GPT Insanity

Crash n Burn

2006-08-03T17:24:00.000+01:00

Well... a lot has changed in 3 months. Formerly stable sites have disappeared into the void, nothing more than another statistic in the GPT world. PTRs that have been actively paying for over 1 year are few and far in between. If you're looking to make money from just PTRs, forget about it. It's a saturated market, where the average PTR disappears within 3-6 months. No... the real money is to be made in contextual advertising. What's that? Basically, these are text ads that appear on websites that offer related products to your site visitors. For instance, your site could be about the different places you've travelled to, and the ads could be from travel agencies, airlines, etc.
Google Adsense is the most famous of the lot, making heaps of cash for those who know how to use it properly.

Of course, if you're promoting GPT, contextual advertising is not an option. Paid-to-Click does not comply with these sort of ads, as advertisers pay for valid (genuine) traffic. GPT will forever be a mistrusted 'business', due to the high % of fraud that can and may occur with it.

PTRs vs Real Life

2006-07-28T12:18:00.000+01:00

I've put most of my PTRs on hold. The reason for this is simple. In terms of monetary rewards, it is minimal. In terms of effort, it is highly time-consuming. A typical PTR clicker can earn perhaps USD 10 per month without referrals. Building up a referral base is no easy task, and once you've achieved a sizeable referral network, there's no guarantee that your referrals will remain active. Then, there's the worry that the PTR site could shut down without any warning.

A full-time job would surely earn more than you could earn with PTR. But, the general idea is that you can click a few links, while doing other things online. If you can earn a few bucks for just a few (thousand) extra mouse clicks, would you do it?

So why join PTRs?
PTRs offer the average Joe the chance to see how affiliate marketing works. The real earnings from PTRs comes from having an active downline. Assuming 10% earnings from your referrals, having 10 referrals means that you double your potential earnings from PTR.
PTRs offer a low cost means to advertise your website and services. The sites normally promoted on PTRs are search engine sites and other PTRs. Some people even use PTRs to promote their eBay items for sale!
Others like the idea of earning money during their free time.

Unless you live in a country where $1 USD can feed your family for a week, I do think that your time can be used more productively doing other things. That being said, I still click a few links every now and then... but I restrict it to a few PTRs that have a good track record, and relatively low activity requirements... namely...

PTP Strategies, Tips & Cheap Ads

2006-05-18T12:09:00.000+01:00

Many people find Paid-to-Promote (PTP) a great opportunity to make additional money from PTR sites. Let's face it. Clicking PTR emails non-stop is a really boring way to make money.

How does PTP work? Basically, you promote a PTP page with your referral link, and earn credits depending on the geographical location of your traffic. Now, for the best results, you would want to promote your pages on approved websites, with visitors from Tier 1 countries.

The best PTR sites for this would be those that limit their members to US, Canada, UK and Western Europe.

Cassandrasclicks.com is a good example. Check out the cheap PTP ads (this month only).

# 3000 PTP Clicks - $1.15
# 4000 PTP Clicks - $1.50
# 10,000 PTP Clicks - $3.65

Now, when it comes to PTP, there's always a % of invalid clicks which you have to factor in, to calculate if you can make a net profit from your ads. I currently have a PTP ad running on this site for DonkeyMails PTP, and I'm getting about 50 clicks a day. Most of the traffic is Tier 1 and 2, and the % of valid hits is quite high. 139 clicks, 115 detected, 106 valid hits, 81.2 credits in total over 2.5 days.

Actual valid click rate is about 76.3%. Now, for the 3000 PTP Clicks package, you pay $1.15. Estimated total return is 1752 credits, equivalent to $1.314.

A small profit? Yes. Is it worth the effort? Well, here's the thing. If anyone signs up for the PTR site from your PTP page, they add to your referral downline, which earns additional money for you! I've gotten 2 additional referrals so far, which is a good start.

Another tip. Be sure to promote PTP sites that have a good track record of server uptime. If the site is down, you won't earn credits for PTP visits.

Alternatively, you could sign-up to a PTP with NO TIERS. No tiers means that the number of unique hits is the number of credits you get, irrespective of the geographical location of the visitors. Be warned though. Some of these sites may have trouble paying up in the long term, since having no tiers make these sites more susceptible to PTP click fraud.

PTR May Updates

2006-05-06T17:01:00.000+01:00

VeronicasPTR and Random-PTCs appear to have gone offline for good. Apparently, the webmistress had some problems with fraudulent advertisers - credit card chargebacks can wreck havoc with PTRs.

PolarPTR is currently having trouble with Paypal - their account has been suspended. This is probably due to PolarPTR having a multi-level referral system which Paypal frowns upon (MLM is a no-no). PolarPTR has since switched to a single referral level of 20%.

PolarPTR is probably one of the more popular PTRs out there, so it is likely that many other PTRs that use Paypal will take heed and make the necessary changes to comply with Paypal TOS.

Among the PTRs to change to a single referral level recently are TheClickersClub and EarningAtHome.

As for the PTRs that prefer e-gold, this won't affect them. World gold prices will, however. Currently hovering at 680 USD/oz, up from 430 USD/oz in May 2005.
See the chart

May 2006 Payouts

2006-05-04T23:24:00.000+01:00

BlueBirdPTR - $1.01 USD + $0.07 USD

BannerFoxAds - $0.22 USD

ItPaysToLearn - $1.31 USD

KittensPTR - $0.18 USD

SkunksPTR - $0.05 USD

Extraordinary-Mails.us - $1.01 USD.

ShareAdSpace - $0.35 USD.

MoraTraffic - $0.44 USD.

StormofCash - $0.29 USD.

Classical-Mail - $0.50 USD.

PTR April Updates

2006-04-26T22:51:00.000+01:00

MadEarnings and UnitedMails have been changed to $5 minimum payout (previously, it was no minimum and $2 respectively). This has been blamed in part on EMOCorp (currently under receivership).

Referral earnings has also been changed to a standard single level at 15% to comply with Paypal TOS. Activity requirement has been raised from 0% to 20%.

The problems with EMOCorp has affected e-gold funds available at these two sites. Therefore, it is advised that site members use Paypal if possible for quick and easy payments.

April 2006 Payouts

2006-04-23T07:48:00.000+01:00

BlueBirdPTR - $0.61 + $0.07 USD. Automatic payout.

DCGPartners - $0.29 USD. Automatic payout.

BannerFoxAds - $1.34 USD. Automatic payout.

KittenPTR - $0.97 USD. Auto payment.

SkunksPTR - $1.08 USD + $0.14 USD. Auto payment.

BGPayMail - $7.08 USD. It may take a while to earn, but at 2c per email, it's well worth the effort.

PolarPTR - $2.26 USD + 0.71 USD.

MoraTraffic - $0.33 USD.

TheClickersClub - $0.84 USD.

Avant-Cash - $2.02 USD.

AdPaid.com - $5.00 USD.

Extraordinary-Mails.us - $1.29 USD.

Classical-Mail - $2.00 USD.

LookABC - $2.00 USD.

Worldwide-Cash - $1.73 USD.

RPoints - £10.11 GBP. You can request payout from £1 GBP upwards.
BritishRewards - £0.59 GBP.

Other UK cashback sites

See March 2006 payouts here.

Profits4InvestingToo Revisited Again

2006-04-20T07:02:00.000+01:00

Received yet another e-mail concerning the collapsed ponzi, Profits4InvestingToo.

Dear Sir/Madame:

You may be a victim of fraud. An ongoing criminal investigation conducted by the US Secret Service and the Clark County Sheriff's Office into the website profits4investingtoo.com and those individuals who operated that website. Some of those individuals have been identified and have been arrested. If you invested money into profits4investingtoo.com and have lost money, if you wish to be included in this case as a victim and possibly receive restitution, you must contact U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Nguyen via e-mail at p4itoofraud@yahoo.com or you may contact him at (360) 699-1040 with the below listed information:

1. Your full name
2. Your Address and telephone number
3. Information regarding your investment into profits4investingtoo.com
(What plan you invested in, how much money you invested, how much out of pocket or actual money you lost)
4. In order to possibly receive your money back as a victim, you MUST provide the above information AND also provide PROOF of your investment.

Thank You,
Special Agent Nguyen
US Secret Service

See previous post on P4I2

EDealsUK.com UK Cashback Program

2006-04-13T04:37:00.000+01:00

This is a UK-based cashback program similar to FreeFivers, MyShoppingRewards, etc.

eDealsUK.com is giving £5 for all new members, credited to your account. You can also earn an additional £5 for each new referral, which will be credited once your referrals get paid.

The minimum amount to cash-out is £25.
Payments are made via cheque or Paypal.

Sign up now.

TheClickersClub Referral Contest

2006-04-06T03:14:00.000+01:00

TheClickersClub is currently having a referral contest.

You will earn 5 cents for every valid referral. Inactive referrals will not count.

For every 10 referrals, there is a 25 cents bonus (total of 75 cents).

Generate 50 referrals and receive $5 in total (that's 10 cents per referral!).

For every referral that decides to upgrade their membership, you will also receive 5% of the value of the upgrade.

The contest ends on April 30th. Prizes will be awarded 48 hours after the end of the contest.

Sign up now!

PTR March Updates

2006-04-01T07:33:00.000+01:00

ArabianNightsPTR - The PTP section is now for upgraded members only.

BannerFoxAds - The PTP section is now for upgraded members only. PTP has been raised from 70c CPM (with Tiers) to 80c CPM (no tiers!)

MadEarnings and UnitedMails are no longer automatic monthly payout. Members have to request payment manually.

WinterWonderlandMail has lowered their minimum payout from $8 to $5.

ShareAdSpace has had a rather substantial setback, thanks to Google Adsense suspending their account. Apparently, it has to do with Adsense changing their advertising rates from CPC (clicks) to CPM (impressions). This could mean other similar manual traffic exchanges may also be affected by this.

Meanwhile, PolarPTR is offering cheap advertising packages.

March 2006 Payouts

2006-03-30T09:49:00.000+01:00

AdPaid.com - $5.00 USD. Usually pays within a few hours of request.

Granny's - $10.00 USD. Paid, after a long delay, due to Paypal problems.

DonkeyMails - $2.70 + $2.44 USD .

BlueBirdPTR - $0.08 USD. Auto payment.

KittenPTR - $0.05 USD. Auto payment.

SkunksPTR - $0.02 USD. Auto payment.

TheClickersClub - $0.34 + $0.10 + $0.25 + $0.12USD.

CassandrasClicks - $5.13 USD. My first payment, after being a member for only 5 weeks.

HopToCashEmails - $0.63 USD. Random payout.

VeronicasPTR - $1.15 USD. A good site for cheap ads too.

Random-PTCs - $1.15 USD.

GainPay - $1.00 USD.

MoraTraffic - $0.42 + $0.42 USD.

DCGPartners - $0.25 USD.

SoRedtheRose - $1.39 USD.

BannerFoxAds - $2.23 USD.

NickelsByEmail - $5.62 USD.

Searching4Gold - $0.49 + $0.11 USD.

Guppy-Mails - $1.25 USD.

ShareAdSpace - $1.47 USD.

UnitedMails - $2.20 USD.

StormofCash - $0.31 USD. Change of site ownership. Payments are now being made.

PolarPTR - $3.45 USD.

MadEarnings - $1.74 USD.

EarningAtHome - $4.68 USD.

TheAdClick - $2.96 USD.

Klondike-Clicks - $3.26 USD.

Extraordinary-Mails.us - $1.75 USD

Classical-Mail - $2.00 USD

PooCool - $1.00 USD

Current March Total = $62.16 USD

See February 2006 payouts here.

Auto-Surf-Money Closing

2006-03-26T20:16:00.000+01:00

Auto-surf-money.com is closing, less than 2 months since it first opened its doors. Here's the email sent out to all members:

This is truly a sad day for us, but due to circumstances beyond our control Auto-Surf-Money.com has been forced to close.

Before you PANIC please understand this:

WE DO NOT INTEND TO RUN WITH YOUR MONEY !!

Over the next several days we will review our databases and begin to refund those who are due funds.

If you have recently sent funds to us via Check and these funds have not been reflected into your auto-surf-money.com account this means that the funds have not been deposited into the bank and they will be returned to you as soon as possible.

All refunds must be issued via company check because all of our other accounts have been restricted in one form or another. We therefore need to request you complete the information in your profile to make this possible, i.e., Full name and address.

It was not our intention to start this program and have to close in this manner. Unfortunately we have all fallen victim of circumstance. Had we been able to continue the development of Auto-Surf-Money privately, rather than launch hurriedly due to those circumstances beyond our control that occurred on and after February 2nd, 2006, rather than a public launch while we were still very much in pre-launch, it would not be necessary to send you this announcement now.

We will be refunding all of our members and continuing with development as originally planned. Without the additional full time work involved in daily operations, this will be a more realistic achievable task to manage.

Dan Lund

Stormpay Policy Change 23 March 2006

2006-03-26T20:00:00.000+01:00

This is the latest announcement from Stormpay.

Important StormPay Policy Change:
23-Mar-2006 14:21

Dear Valued StormPay customer,

Effective immediately StormPay Inc. will no longer accept payments for sales made outside of StormPay Auctions. If you are an online seller who wishes to sell your product or service through the StormPay system, your item must be sold using the StormPay Auctions feature. Listing in the StormPay Auctions is FREE of charge unless utilizing our inexpensive upgraded listing options.

Q: Why has StormPay implemented this new policy?

A: StormPay has rendered certain policy changes to insure a safer online experience for both buyers and sellers. This policy change allows StormPay to more closely monitor the products/services sold, insuring that sold items are within StormPay’s acceptable use policies.

Under these new policy guidelines, customers may no longer log into a StormPay account for the purpose of sending money to another online user, or “offsite” website sale. All “spends” and “receives” are and only can be for the specific purchase of a user’s auction listing and successful purchase of.

Subscriptions (recurring billing) is no longer supported by the StormPay system. All current subscriptions have been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We appreciate your business. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

StormPay Inc.

MillionHitsLotto Traffic Exchange

2006-03-15T08:07:00.000+00:00

This is a traffic exchange brought to you by the owner of ShareAdSpace (SAS). The first 300 members get 100 free pageviews to their chosen site. There are now 566 members, and the offer is now 50 pageviews until 1000 members.

Just to give you an idea, here are my results from the 100 free pageviews I got.
I used MillionHitsLotto to advertise my SAS link.

Tier1 Total: 73 Valid: 46
Tier2 Total: 6 Valid: 4
Tier3 Total: 10 Valid: 10
Tier4 Total: 4 Valid: 4

Total detected = 93
Total valid = 64

On my first day of membership, I've already won over 500 free pageviews!

Hurry and Join now!

EMOCorp in trouble

2006-03-14T02:29:00.000+00:00

EMOCorp has been unavailable for a few days now, and the reason for this is now clear. EMOCorp is in trouble with the law!

Attorney General Abbott Files Emergency Action To Protect Clients Of Unlicensed Online Payment Service

EMO Corp. and officers cannot account for $2.4 million in customer cash

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has obtained an asset freeze and emergency approval for a court-appointed receiver to take over the operations of unlicensed Austin-based online payment service EMO Corp.

The company and its officers, Todd L. Tredeau, Tracey Jones and Nancy C. Humphries cannot fully account for more than $5.4 million that consumers placed into their accounts. The company’s books show they have only $3 million cash on hand, which means EMO cannot account for $2.4 million belonging to its customers. The officers failed to register with the Texas Banking Department and obtain a license as a “money services business,” as required by law.
“These officers must account for their outrageous mismanagement of consumers’ money, which they promised would be secure,” said Attorney General Abbott. “The court’s appointment of a receiver to seize control of this company’s assets will provide an opportunity to determine where this money has gone.”

The company’s Web site, www.emocorp.com, touts the service as a safe way to conduct financial transactions online, as a service to assist consumers who are recent victims of fraud and businesses that handle payrolls.

Consumers who open accounts with online payment services can deposit money into their accounts via credit cards or bank transfers and expect instant access to their accounts. The consumer uses the service to send or receive money to and from other members via electronic transfers. According to information given to the Department of Banking by EMO Corp., the company has a current customer base of 17,000 nationwide, with 6,000 of these in Texas.

The Banking Department denied EMO a license for failure to meet minimum net worth requirements of $500,000 and other statutory requirements. Furthermore, according to the company’s own financial statements presented to the Department of Banking, the company is insolvent.

Upon investigation following the asset freeze, the Attorney General will seek restitution to any consumer harmed by these transactions, as well as civil penalties and attorneys’ fees.

Source: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=1493

PDF document links:
Attorney General's lawsuit against EMO
Temporary restraining order against EMO

Previous Blog post on EMO

Profits4InvestingToo Revisited

2006-03-08T22:41:00.000+00:00

I received an email recently concerning the failed HYIP/ponzi Profits4InvestingToo (P4I2). The email appears authentic. It was also sent to the email address which I used for Stormpay, so I assume that's where they got my contact email. Though P4I2 is long gone, it is only now that it seems the authorities are clamping down on its activities. Here's the email:

To: xxx

March 8, 2006

Greetings,

I am a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Unit of the Clark County Sheriff's Office, in Vancouver, Washington. I am currently working an investigation, along with other agencies, into alleged financial misconduct by, or involving, a subject named Edwin Garcia. Mr. Garcia is believed to be doing business under the following entities:

Profits4u
Offshoreprofits
P4itoo (profits4investingtoo)
Money4u

and other business entities. Some of these entities or investment businesses may have been active for relatively short periods of time (less than 60 days in some cases).

I am interested in speaking with you regarding investments you may have entrusted with this individual, or any of the listed businesses or any similar investment businesses. In particular, I am interested in knowing what promises or statements may have been made to you regarding returns on your investments, amounts invested or solicited, tiered payments made or promised, what lengths of time the investments were to be held, whether or not you actually received returns on any monies invested, and/or any other information you may be willing to provide.

I can usually be contacted Monday through Thursday, 0700 hrs to 1730 hrs Pacific Time. My direct telephone number is: (360) 397-2032. I can also be reached by pager (360) 759-8350) or FAX (360) 759-5491.

Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin Harper
Detective 3216
Major Crimes Unit
Clark County Sheriff's Office
707 W. 13th St / PO Box 410
Vancouver, WA 98666
Kevin.harper@clark.wa.gov

When I first put money into Profits4InvestingToo (P4I2), I was new to the HYIP arena. However, I was savvy enough to know that most of these HYIPs were short term ponzis, with lifespans less than 1 month. Knowing that, my 'investment' in P4I2 was minimal, using Stormpay's Stormclix earnings only. It was, in my eyes, a pure gamble. I never expected a return. Yet, 1 month later, after I placed a request, I got paid. Since it was such a small amount, Stormpay fees took a large portion of the money - about 20%.

Now, if I had not received any payment from P4I2, chances are, my account would still be active. However, since I did receive something from P4I2, Stormpay has since charged back the money (the total sent, not the total received, meaning they pocket the difference), and suspended my account.

I am trying to decide how to respond to the official email. As far as I'm concerned, it was a gamble on my part, not an investment. Most of these ponzi/HYIPs use the Goldcoders HYIP script, which looks like this. By default, the text states something that implies some form of investment in forex and stocks, and if I recall correctly, P4I2 didn't change anything, except for the % returns.

The term 'ponzi' implies that new investors are used to pay off the old, without any real investment. For any online HYIP offering daily, weekly or monthly returns, some of the money WILL have to come from new members. Otherwise, it'll be a transaction nightmare. So, does that make all online HYIPs ponzis? OR does this only apply if more than 50% of payments are made using money from new investors? The legal definitions vary from country to country. It isn't a clear-cut case of black or white.

No, the problem with online HYIPs, is regulation. Or rather, the lack of. Something which the authorities want to change. To control. To tax.

Reasons why Stormpay will suspend your account

2006-03-08T17:47:00.000+00:00

If you look through Stormpay's website, you should be able to find this info.

Reasons an account may be Suspended?
Closing accounts and limiting account access: StormPay Inc. reserves the right to limit access to purchasing or making withdrawals from an account for any one of the events listed below. In the event your account access is restricted, all funds within the account will be held for a period of 180 days to cover against any chargebacks your account may incur. After 180 days of account restriction, you may contact StormPay Inc. to request the balance of any remaining funds held within your StormPay account.
See reasons below:
1. Reports of unauthorized or unusual bank account use associated with the account:
2. Reports of unauthorized or unusual credit card use associated with the account including, but not limited to, notice by the card issuing bank. This includes notices made by you to your credit card company that a transaction was unauthorized or your account compromised, and is done in order to protect you from further unauthorized use of your card:
3. Abuse by a buyer of the reversal process provided by the buyer's issuing bank:
4. Complaints received regarding non-shipment of merchandise, non-delivery of services, merchandise not as described, or problems with merchandise shipped:
5. Receipt of potentially fraudulent funds:
6. Refusal to cooperate in an investigation or provide confirmation of identity when requested:
7. Initiation by a buyer of a reversal process through the buyer's issuing bank without first pursuing the vendor or StormPay Inc. to satisfy the situation:
8. Opening multiple StormPay accounts:
9. The account has been used in or to facilitate fraudulent activity:
10. Name on the bank account does not match the name on the StormPay account or does not relate to the name on the StormPay account:
11. Return of an incoming Electronic Funds Transfer for insufficient funds in the bank account, incorrect bank routing number, or incorrect bank account number:
12. Receipt by StormPay of excessive complaints regarding your account, business or service:
13. Use of an anonymizing proxy:
14. Logging in from any country on StormPay's non-approved country list: 15. Initiation of transactions considered to be cash advances or assisting in cash advances.
16. Sending unsolicited email or posting referral links on websites where they are not permitted.
17. Any violations of the StormPay user agreement. … Read More

While it may be true that other payment processors have similar terms and conditions regarding fraud & other illegal activity, it is in the implementation of Stormpay's policies that has everyone in uproar.

For those who have even a single transaction with an autosurf or HYIP, this means that your accounts will be frozen (if they aren't yet, they will be). It doesn't matter if
the transaction was for less than $5. Or, that your dabble in said autosurf/HYIP was over 6 months ago. Even if the majority of your transactions are legitimate, your entire account balance will be frozen.

I wonder if anyone's keeping track of the number of suspended Stormpay accounts.
100,000? 300,000? 500,000? More?

Stormpay Account Suspended

2006-03-07T17:18:00.000+00:00

Oh look! My Stormpay account got suspended. Finally. Yes, It is true that I had an account balance of -$5.36. And it was an unverified account, because I didn't trust Stormpay enough to give them my bank account details.
But, I didn't bring my account into the red. They did. With a chargeback.

I wonder how many accounts are in a similar boat because of Stormpay chargebacks.

WinterWonderlandMail Referral Contest

2006-03-05T11:28:00.000+00:00

WinterWonderlandMail is currently having a referral contest. There are currently 300 members.

Details:

Referral Contest to 500 Active members Starts Now March 4th/2006.
Everybody is automatically enrolled.

1st Place Wins a Blizzard Upgrade Membership or $15 Cash.
2nd Place Wins a Snowman Upgrade Membership or $10 Cash.
3rd Place Wins a SnowBall Upgrade Membership or $5 Cash.
4th Place Wins a Tundra Adpack($4.10 Value) plus 1000 banner impressions per active referral
5th place Wins an Igloo Adpack($2.80 value) plus 1000 banner impressions per active referral
6th-10th Place Wins 5 SnowBall Links plus 1000 banner impressions per active referral
11th-20th Place Wins 1 SnowBall Link plus 1000 banner impressions per active referral
21st Place and beyond Wins 1000 banner impressions per active referral

Autosurf Recap

2006-03-04T03:23:00.000+00:00

Well, 12DailyPro is officially in the hands of the authorities. A receiver has been court appointed to sort out the mess, a mess which may also have been exacerbated by Stormpay's activities. 12Dailypro.com is currently unavailable, no surprise there.

ABC4 reports claim that at least $50 million USD is tied up in Stormpay accounts. The general opinion of the accountants and 'experts' involved, is that many will only receive a small fraction of what they had put into 12DailyPro. I wonder, who's got their hands in the cookie jar? Even with the claim that almost 2 million was siphoned off by Charis, that's still 50 million in Stormpay accounts (minus Stormpay's cut of approx 5%, that's still 47.5 mil). Does the government get a % of the money? How about the receiver?

The authorities have issued a warning to all autosurfs. If fraud is detected, they WILL prosecute. Well, that sounds all fine and dandy, except many of these autosurfs are smart enough to register their business abroad. There are many safe havens for companies trying to avoid the tentacles of the US Government.

For those autosurfs still operating, the general direction has been to redefine their core business activity, and make it clear to the general public. Advertising. Not membership fees. Advertising. That's what autosurfs sell. Alientrust is one of the forerunners in this endeavour. There have been a few changes in their earning plans. Whether or not this will be enough to evade the ponzi radar, is anyone's guess. A few autosurfs have gotten rid of the paid-to-surf feature, and are now plain old traffic exchanges.

We can be certain of two things:
One: People will be more cautious before investing in autosurfs.
Two: People will avoid Stormpay and other US based payment processors, if they intend to invest in autosurfs and HYIPs.

Related links and sources:
http://www.drunkonlife.com/Daily-Blog.html
http://www.abc4.com/news/

February 2006 Payouts

2006-02-28T16:06:00.000+00:00

The following sites have paid me this month (will be updated weekly):

BannerFoxAds - $1.06 USD.
Monthly payout, no request required. Most of the earning was from promoting the PTP page - 70c CPM.

SkunksPTR - $0.09 USD + 0.02 USD + 0.02 USD + 0.04 USD
No request required. There's a PTP section paying 50c CPM.

KittenPTR - $0.06 USD + 0.02 USD + 0.04 USD + 0.04 USD
No request required. There's a PTP section paying 50c CPM.

BlueBirdPTR - $0.27 USD + 0.07 USD + 0.09 USD + 1.06 USD
No request required. There's a PTP section paying 65c CPM

SeeSpotSearch PPC - $0.33 USD.
This is a Pay-per-Click search engine. There is no minimum payout requirement.

PolarPTR - $1.89 USD + $2.45 USD.
Lovely PTR site, with PTP at 70c CPM. Very easy to reach payout, and usually pays within the day. PolarPTR is currently having a referral contest to celebrate their 1 year anniversary.

DCGPartners - $0.02 USD.
I had redeemed $0.80 of earnings for a cheap PTP ad package, so to get paid too, is just a nice bonus.

GainPay - $1.00 USD. Mainly search ads.

TheClickersClub - $0.13 USD + $0.55 USD.
Random Payouts.

MoraTraffic - $0.78 USD.

3QuaterMails - $2.05 USD. Members limited to search countries. Proxy users are not allowed to search.

ExtraOrdinary-Mails.us - $1.06 USD.

Apple-Clicks - $3.01 USD.

Classical-Mail - $2.00 USD.

Worldwide-Cash - $1.73 USD. PTP section pays 80c CPM.

No-Scam Forums - $9.00 USD. 6th place in the referral contest.

See January 2006 payouts here.

PTR Updates

2006-02-27T20:29:00.000+00:00

For those who are members of various PTRs, this may or may not affect you.

WolfEmails.net and Mailsforus.com are officially closing down. For more info, visit http://www.earningoptions.com/payouts/. WolfEmails used to be one of the larger PTRs out there, with over 9000 members. Paypal froze their accounts in mid-2005 due to apparent breach in TOS, and the 2 sites have been in a state of decline ever since.

Menboo.net and Searching4Gold.com are under new management. Currently, the PTP pages are still disabled, and there is a delay in payments. The main reason given, is due to non-payment by search engine feeds and other advertisers.

PropaidEmail.com is under new management. The original owner had a dispute with Paypal. The site has been in a state of abandon for some time now, due to a separate email related problem.

He-saysshe-says.com has removed PTP from their site. More info can be found on their forums.

Getnoticedplus.com and coralcash.com also have non-functioning PTP sections at the moment.

Windsnowstory.com has changed their minimum payout from $1 to $3.

TigersAds has raised their PTP values to $0.90 CPM (normal PTP) and $1.00 CPM (multipop), up $0.10 each.

Only 4 more days till PolarPTR's first year anniversary!

All my Posts concerning Stormpay and 12DailyPro

2006-02-26T05:54:00.000+00:00

For those who find it a hassle to search through my blog to find articles about Stormpay, 12DailyPro, autosurfs, I have listed the articles in chronological order:

[Stormpay Controversy]
[Stormpay Controversy Part Deux]
[Stormpay Controversy Episode 3]
[12DailyPro Announcement]
[Stormpay: The Plot Thickens]
[Stormpay Strikes Back]
[So is Autosurfing Legitimate?]
[The general mood of Stormpay members...]
[Stormpay (Error - Site Unavailable)]
[Further Updates on Stormpay]
[Choosing Alternative Payment Processors]
[More 12DailyPro Bashing by Stormpay]
[The Leaf Chronicle Corrections]

[ABC4 report on 17th Feb 2006]
[Steve Girsky Hijacked!]
[ABC4 Stormpay News Follow-up]
[My Own Stormpay Horror Story]
[ABC4 Report on 25th Feb 2006]

ABC4 report on 25th Feb 2006

2006-02-25T20:21:00.000+00:00

The noose is tightening around 12 Daily Pro. North Carolina has issued a cease and desist order against 12 Daily Pro. I wonder when the other autosurfs will get their day in the spotlight. Or perhaps they aren't as high profile to be newsworthy.

New Action by State and Federal Regulators Against 12DailyPro

12 Daily Pro now has a cease and desist order against it. The order was handed to an agent of 12 Daily Pro on Friday. A source familiar with the order says it calls for all involved with the internet auto-surf program to cease the sale of unregistered securities by unlicensed individuals. The order is apparently part of a joint investigation by the Secretary of State of North Carolina and the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Details of the order will be made public on Monday, but based on information from the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office, it represents the beginning of an investigation, not the end. According to the state of North Carolina:

“A summary cease & desist order is issued by the Securities Division when it appears that ongoing activity violates the North Carolina Securities Act or the North Carolina Investment Advisers Act and poses the threat of irreparable harm to the investing public. The cease & desist order commands those who receive it to stop any further violations and to comply with the requirements of the securities laws.”

(source: http://www.secstate.state.nc.us/)

ABC 4 has been told that Charis Johnson, Administrator of 12 Daily Pro, has not yet had an opportunity to respond to the order or its allegations.

Deadline Passes in Utah

Also Friday, a deadline came and went in Utah. Today some of the people involved in the 12 Daily Pro debacle had been ordered by administrative subpoenas to appear at the Heber Wells Building for depositions. The Utah Division of Consumer Protection is seeking a comprehensive list of all 12 Daily Pro members in Utah. Although no one appeared, Francine Gianni of the Division says negotiations are underway. She says the list could be turned over by next week.

President Hinckley's Take on Get-Rich Schemes

One other note: Thursday night’s story looked at how 12 Daily Pro spread quickly in religious communities in both Utah and Georgia. A viewer who is also a former 12 Daily Pro member suggested that we look up what has been said on the subject by President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We found this quote taken from a talk given by President Hinckley in April of 2003:

“We warn our people against get-rich schemes and other entanglements which are nearly always designed to trap the gullible.”

Since Utah became infamous for financial fraud in the early 1980’s, LDS General Authorities have spoken out on various occasions about “too good to be true” investments. In some instances it has been compared to gambling, which is considered a sin by the Church.

Story by: Brent Hunsaker
brent@abc4.tv

Source: ABC4

There was another ABC4 report on 24th Feb that cited religion as a factor in the spread of the 12DailyPro phenomenon. The report go as far as to say that the zealousness of some 12DailyPro members were akin to being in a cult. An investment cult in this case. Ardent supporters that stick to their beliefs, inspite of a lack of evidence to support it.

So, does that make the religious gullible? :) Perhaps. Faith is a powerful thing. Getting people to believe in invisible beings is no easy task. I don't want to launch into a theological debate about this, so I won't.

I will say this though; people see what they want to see.